Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Babbling Barack

Yesterday, I saw a brief video clip of Barack Obama responding to the Virginia Tech shootings. I was struck at how off-tone his remarks were: off-handed, impersonal and small for a man who wants to be president.

Here is a link to that riff, delivered prior to a speech in Milwaukee. He sounds like a dry old man pastor rambling on without saying anything. Despite his lack of smoothness, President George W. Bush speaks in a way that is clear and understandable, one of the necessary components for effective communication.

Obama speaks in circular gobble-speak. I find it particularly empty when he talks about excess violence in our culture after he just scooped up millions of dollars from Hollywood fat-cats.